SurLaLune Fairy Tales

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Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Paul Galdone's Fairy Tales and More

With today's entry on Galdone, I decided to share an article making the media rounds about the hardcover reprinting of Galdone's work. It's a very informative article and I will share the first paragraphs, but click through to read it all. I am also providing covers and links to the releases of this month by Galdone, but several more are coming. The article also analyzes the illustrations and can make you more of a fan of Galdone if you read it.

Even as a child, Paul Galdone knew he would be an artist: drawing was his life. But it wasn't until he was in his mid-40s that Galdone illustrated his first children's book and launched a career that would ensure his artistic legacy.

From 1951 until his death in 1986 at age 79, the prolific Galdone illustrated and/or wrote more than 300 children's books, many of them classics that have become favorites for several generations of young readers. Two books that he illustrated, "Anatole" and "Anatole and the Cat" -- both written by Eve Titus -- won Caldecott Honors, given to the best illustrated children's books in a particular year.

But Galdone may be best remembered for his versions of traditional folk tales aimed at the picture-book crowd. Most of these books have never gone out of print, and now four of them have just been beautifully republished by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in a new "Folk Tale Classics" line: "The Three Bears," "The Three Little Pigs," "Three Little Kittens" and "The Little Red Hen."

Each book costs $8.99 -- a bargain considering both how nicely they are presented (with gold-foil accents on the covers) and what classics they are. The stories are ones that every child should know, and Galdone's versions add energy and comedy to these traditional tales.